Lathe



June 1, 1954 w. BAUERSACHS I 2,679,780

LATHE Filed April 27, 1951 ezmaerz sit/9S1 5 Patented June 1, 1954 LATHE Walter Bauersachs, deceased, late of Bruchsal,

Germany, by Elisabeth Bauersachs, administratrix, Bruchsal, Germany, assignor to Hahn & Kolb, Stuttgart-N, Germany Application April 27, 1951, Serial N0. 233,063

Claims priority, application Germany April 27, 1950 Claims.

The invention concerns lathes with pans for catching the swarf, especially lathes of the capstan type for operation by a seated operative.

Mechanics lathes are already known which can be operated by the workman in a sitting position and in which the lathe, consisting substantially of a headstock, the machine bed, and the tool slide, is placed, in given cases together with the drive transmission, upon a wide swarfcatching pan, whilst the pan in turn is secured with its ends on the feet or" the lathe. Mechanics lathes of this kind are, however, only capable of being used as finishing lathes for small amounts of metal removal owing to their low turning rigidity.

Further, for the finishing machining of sen sitive small lathe parts, precision finishing lathes are known in which the operating person can likewise work whilst seated and accommodate the upper part of his thighs under the machine bed, which is constructed without a pan.

The invention aims at building lathes for larger cutting capacities, especially capstan lathes, in such a manner that their operation by a seated person is conveniently possible. For this purpose it is required to accommodate in the limited space which is available, taking as a basis the average measure of a seated person between the top of the thigh and eye level, with good condition of sight for the operative, a machine bed which, using the smallest means, affords maximum stability of the lathe and thus as high a working accuracy as possible.

According to the invention, this is achieved substantially by constructing the machine bed as a fiat hollow support which is closed in the manner of a pipe; this hollow support goes through for the entire length of the machine, preferably of a capstan lathe, and is secured at both ends directly on the two legs of the machine and carries the lateral pans. The said fiat hollow support carries both the headstock of the machine and the tool carriers, such as the carriage for facing and the capstan, and also, in given cases, the tailstock so that they can be clamped on its bed guide, which goes from end to end in the longitudinal direction. Through the simultaneous execution of these measures, it is possible to obtain a machine construction which is both stable and comparatively simple in manufacture. For the clamping of both the headstock and the tool slides only a longitudinal groove on the right-hand side and on the lefthand side of the hollow support are needed on the single, through bed guide. Here the hollow body needs to be in practice only as wide as the slides longitudinally displaceable onit :and as the headstock, whilst the pans adjoin it directly at each side. When the hollow support is manufactured as a cast body, the pans are integrally :ca'st therewith. Such a machine bed is so stable that on the legs of the lathe not even a particularly stable support is required in order to make it rigid against twisting. It is indeed suflicient to secure the bed by one foot at two points and by the other foot at a single point. Such an extremely simple three-point support washardly possible in the previous bed guides of capstan lathes of this type. Even with not absolutely level erecting bases it renders :spirit level align ment, which is otherwise necessary, superfluous. For locking the parts, namely the headstock and the individual tool slides, which are to be secured on the machine bed, it is'preferred to use clamps which run in cross grooves on the parts to be secured and which engage with their claws from below in lateral longitudinal grooves on the bed uide.

The invention will be described further by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a capstan lathe construction according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view corresponding to Fig. -1.;

Fig. 3 is a. plan view corresponding to Fig. .1, the headstock, the carriage for facing and the capstan being, however, only indicated in chain dotted lines;

Fig. 4 shows perspective views of individual lathe parts; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are part sectional views along lines V-V and VI--VI respectively of Fig. l.

l designates a left-hand machine leg of box section of a capstan lathe. 2 designates .the right-hand machine leg. The two machine legs I, 2 are connected with each other bycross-rails 3, 4. 5, 6, -'l designate the bed of the capstan lathe. It has the cross-section to be seen in Figs. 5 and 6, the central section being constructed asahollow support 5 and the twolateral projections 6, I being constructed as pans for catching the swarf and the cooling medium. The machine bed 5, 5, 1 (or the hollow carrier) extends over the entire length of the machine. is supported with its ends on the legs I, 2 of the machine, and is thrcadedly attached to the legs at three points B, 9, i0. Through this threepoint support 8, 9, 10 a completely satisfactory seat of the machine bed 5, 6, 1 on the base I, '2, 3 is obtained even if the latter should not be 3 aligned exactly on the floor according to the spirit level.

The hollow support has in cross-section partly the form of a flat trapezoid, ,the top side of which is shorter than the lower side, and the side walls of which run towards each other at the top at equal angles. Longitudinal grooves ll, [2 are made in the side walls.

I3 is the headstock of the capstan lathe. According to Fig. 5, it has, longitudinally of the lathe, on its lower side a recess which corresponds to the trapezoid form of the hollow support 5, so that it can be placed from above upon the hollow support 5 which constitutes the bed of capstan lathe. I4, [5 are transverse T-slots in the headstock. In them are longitudinally disposed T-shaped clamps [6, I1, one of which is provided with a threaded bore and the other with a clearance hole, the diameter of which corresponds to that of a screw l8. The clamps I6, l! have lower hooked portions [9, 2n and by tightening of the screw I 8 these can engage in the longitudinal grooves I I, I2 in such a manner that the headstock l3 becomes clamped firmly with the hollow support and is fixed exactly and immovably in its position. The loosening of the headstock from its bed e. g. for repair purposes, can be effected fundamentally in the same simple manner by slackenin the two screws 18.

2| designates a capstan head. According to Fig. 6, its lower part is recessed longitudinally of the lathe on its lower side corresponding to the trapezoid form of the hollow support 5 and can be placed upon the upper bed surface of the hollow support 5 in the same manner as the headstock I3. The lower part of the slide also has T-slots 22, 23 similar to the T-slots I4, E5 of the headstock I3. Clamps 24, 25 displaceable in the T-slots 22, 23 can likewise be brought into engagement with the longitudinal grooves H, 12 of the hollow support 5 by screws 25. However, the ends of the screws carry short tommy-bars 28 which permit rapid tightening or slackening of the screws 26. By this means, the capstan 26 can rapidly be loosened on the bed, pushed into another position, and just as quickly clamped in the new working position. The actual working movement of the capstan 2 I, the bringing up of the top part of the slide in the direction of feeding, and the moving away of the capstan head 21 are effected in known manner by a hand operating lever 40 which is easily operated by the sitting operative.

Similarly easy to reach is a feed lever 29 of a surfacing slide 30, which can be clamped in the same way as the capstan 2| on the hollow support 5 or in its longitudinal grooves l I, I2. With the narrowness of the facing slide 30, it is possible in some circumstances to manage with a single pair of clamps, which is displaceably guided in a T-slot 3|.

The other levers to be operated during normal working on the lathe are also. all located in the range where they can be gripped by the sitting operative, such as the stock feed lever 32, the driving gear operating lever 33, the motor switch 34, the reversing lever 31 for right-hand and lefthand running, and further the pump switch 38 for the coolant and the light switch 39.

The pans extending alon the hollow carrier project somewhat to the right at 4| beyond the narrow machine leg 2 and are there connected with each other. On the whole, the pans 6, 1 have a slight inclination towards the headstock 13, where the discharge openings 35, 36 for the lubricating and cooling liquid to the pump (not shown) are also located.

I claim:

1. A lathe dimensioned to be suitable for operation by a seated operator comprising in combination a machine bed having a flat hollow cross-section which is closed all around and which extends over the entire length of the machine, a pair of legs for supporting the bed at its ends, two bed guides which extend from one end of the bed to the other in the longitudinal direction thereof, a headstock and at least one shiitable tool-slide, means for clamping the headstock on the two bed guides in its fixed position'at one end of the machine bed as well as the shiftable tool-slide in different intermediate positions, a flat lateral projection extending from each side of and forming an integral part with the machine bed and having upwardly directed rims so that the projections, the rims and the side walls of the machine bed serve as swarfreceiving pans.

2. A lathe dimensioned to be suitable for operation by a seated operator comprising in combination a machine bed having a flat hollow cross-section which is closed all around and which extends over the entire length of the ma chine, a pair of legs for supporting the bed at its ends, two bed guides which extend from one end of the bed to the other in the longitudinal direction thereof, a headstock and at least one shiftable tool-slide, means for clamping the headstock on the two bed guides in its fixed position at one end of the machine bed as well as the shiitable tool-slide in diiierent intermediate positions, a flat lateral projection extending from each side of and forming an integral part with the machine bed and having upwardly directed rims so that the projections, the rims and the side walls of the machine bed serve as swarfreceiving pans, the hollow machine bed having a cross-section substantially in the form of a flat trapezoid, the top side of which is shorter than the lower side and the upper portions of the side wall forming the bed guides.

3. A lathe dimensioned to be suitable for operation by a seated operator comprising in combination a machine bed having a flat hollow cross-section which is closed all around and which extends over the entire length of the machine, a pair of legs for supporting the bed at its ends, two bed guides which extend from one end of the bed to the other in the longitudinal direction thereof, a headstock and at least one shiitable tool-slide, means for clamping the headstock on the two bed guides in its fixed position at one end of the machine bed as well as the shiftable tool-slide in difierent intermediate positions, a fiat lateral projection extending from each side of and forming an integral part with the machine bed and having upwardly directed rims so that the projections, the rims and the side walls of the machine bed serve as swarfreceiving pans, the hollow machine bed having a cross-section substantially in the form of a flat trapezoid, the top side of which is shorter than the lower side and the upper portions of the side walls forming the bed guides which latter are provided with longitudinal grooves, the clamping means having hooked portions engaging in the longitudinal grooves and being tightened by screws which transversely extend above the machine bed through the headstock and the tool slide.

v 4. A lathe dimensioned'to be suitable for operation by a seated operator comprising in com bination a machine bed having a fiat hollow cross-section which is closed all around and which extends over the entire length of the machine, a pair of legs for supporting the bed at its ends, two bed guides which extend from one end of the bed to the other in the longitudinal direction thereof, a headstock and at least one shiftable tool-slide, means for clamping the headstock on the two bed guides in its fixed position at one end of the machine bed as well as the shiftable tool-slide in different intermediate positions, a fiat lateral projection extending from each side of and forming an integral part with the machine bed and having upwardly directed rims so that the projections, the rims and the side walls of the machine bed serve as swarf-receiving pans,

and operating levers for the machine arranged as to be easily operated by an operator seated before the machine.

5. A lathe according to claim 1, in which the machine bed is attached to one leg at two points and to the other leg at one point.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,328,962 Overgaard Jan. 27, 1920 1,914,586 Storm et a1. June 20, 1933 1,957,667 Ritter et a1. May 8, 1934 2,124,348 Groene et a1. July 19, 1938 2,558,275 Siekmann et a1. June 26, 1951 2,573,800 Mallinckrodt Nov. 6, 1951 

